Locality
by Paidd
Summary: Before he met her, Evan was a normal guy living in a universe similar to ours. Things quickly spiraled out of control; he found himself helping a girl he didn't fully understand and discovering things he didn't believe could be possible. Nobody could have guessed what the two of them would accomplish together. OCxTracer. Rated M for violence, romance, and profanity.
1. Genesis I

...

 **Locality: Genesis**

 _There are many stories of heroes saving the day,_

 _what is overlooked is the story of how they came to be._

"Oh my god, this Tracer dude!"

Evan burst out laughing as Jake's character was shot by the enemy team's Tracer. "I thought you were letting her kick your ass on purpose." Jake fumed beside Evan, who was still laughing. His friend was always a hothead when it came to video games, but something about losing in Overwatch really pissed Jake off. You could almost measure how angry he was by how many times he cursed in a sentence.

"Dude, this is major bullshit!" Jake yelled at the TV. His character was getting killed by Tracer every time he left their spawn area. "She just sits outside of spawn," Jake began, running out of the protection zone only to get shot again, "and fucking shoots me! Damn!"

Evan kept laughing, unable to stop. It was one of the many reasons he was friends with Jake; his attitude was absolutely ridiculous.

"At least you're good at this game, dude." Jake sighed as the word 'Victory' appeared on the screen. They had one the game, due to Evan's efforts tanking the hell out of the objective. "I couldn't even get to the objective and help…"

"That's why I'm here to save your ass!" Evan punched Evan in the shoulder as he was rated Epic in the post-game lobby.

"I hate getting carried."

Evan stretched, looking up at the clock on the wall. "We should probably take a break," Evan's stomach grumbled as he looked towards the kitchen, planning a late-night snack. "Are you going to stay over tonight?"

"Nah, I have work tomorrow."

Evan glanced at the clock again, "Well, seeing as it's 11 PM—"

"Holy shit, are you kidding me?" Jake looked at the clock, sighing. "Oh man, I should really get going," Jake got up and grabbed his jacket off of the back of the couch, "Thanks for having me over, Evan."

"Yeah, no problem." Evan smiled at his friend. Jake was having a rough time with college classes, so Evan let him stay over whenever he liked. He needs time to chill, even if 'chilling' means yelling at a flat screen in his friend's living room.

Evan pulled his black hair out of his face as it tried to hang in front of his eyes. He hated it when it did that, he needed to style it more.

"Hair still annoying you?" Jake asked as he grabbed the last of his things.

"Yeah, the cut looks good though." Evan had left it long on top and faded the sides short.

"Sure, if you like looking like a wannabe gangster."

Evan huffed, jokingly stabbing at his friend. "Just go home, you redheaded idiot."

Smirking, Jake gave one last wave before heading down the hallway and out his apartment's front door. Evan decided that he did want food, getting up and heading towards the kitchen. He left his Xbox on the Overwatch main menu, the infamous Tracer taking up the right side of the screen. He might play another match after he ate.

After having a long internal debate between Fruit Loops and Lucky Charms, Evan leaned against his kitchen island, pouring his cereal into a bowl. Just as he topped the bowl, he heard a knock at his front door.

"Jake must've forgotten something…"

Going towards the door, he heard another knock. This time louder and sounding impatient.

"Just give me a second, Jake!" Evan said as he reached the door.

"See, like I said literally just a sec—"

Evan stopped as he realized it wasn't Jake at the door at all. A police officer stood there, looking Evan up and down. The police officer was rather rotund around the middle, and was shining a flashlight directly in his face.

Evan put his arms up, trying to save himself from being blinded. "Hey, do you mind?"

"Er, sorry." he put the flashlight on his belt, choosing to cross his arms instead. "Good evening sir. Sorry to wake you up, but we're canvasing the area to see if anybody has seen any suspicious activity tonight. Have you seen or heard anything out of the ordinary or strange?"

Evan stood there, thoroughly confused. "Uh, no. I don't think so.

"Please note, withholding information is a crime—"

"I am very aware, I can guarantee I am not withholding anything."

The police officer seemed content with his answer, giving one last look down his hallway. "Alright then. You know who to call if you happen to see anything." he tipped his officer's cap before making his way down the steps to Evan's door, then continuing down the street.

Evan closed the door, making his way back to his kitchen. Hopefully he wouldn't have any more interruptions. He wasn't all too worried about what the cop had said; after all, it was New York. It was a bit weird he's going door to door, though.

He just wanted to eat his cereal, play some Overwatch, and hit the hay. No random visits or interruptions. No random police officers showing up at his door. Evan opened the fridge door, searching for his milk.

Spinning around with the jug, he moved to pour it over his cereal as he heard someone knocking on his front door yet again. Evan inwardly sighed as he looked at his cereal bowl. He was never going to get to eat.

Evan made his way back to his front door, fighting off the urge to yell at whoever it was.

"Ouch, this thing's hot…" the voice said.

He heard a muffled voice through the door. It sounded pretty feminine.

"Oh, please be home." the voice muttered.

It sounded familiar. Maybe it was a girl from his classes. But why would anybody be here? As far as he knew, he never gave his address out. For a second, Evan wondered if Jake had sent a prostitute to his door as a joke. He grumbled about wanting cereal as he swung the door open.

Standing in front of him, a girl with brown, side-swept hair wearing an orange jumpsuit and a pilot's jacket stared at him. She was holding something in her hands as it sizzled and popped. Evan looked back up at the strange girl, his brain slowly processing what he was seeing.

It was Tracer. Or, what was her name…? Lena Oxton. The actual Tracer.

The girl spoke up again, "Uh, hello! Sorry to bug you so late…"

Tracer, at his front door. _His front door._

Confused, the girl started waving her hand in front of his face. "Hey, are you alright?"

Tracer, the one from the video game sitting idle in his living room.

"Hello, is anyone home up there?"

Evan suddenly snapped out of it, looking down at Tracer—no, Lena—while she continued to wave her hand right in front of his nose. He had to be dreaming or something. Maybe he fell, and hit his head on his kitchen counter.

"What are you doing here?" Evan blinked. He didn't know what to say besides that.

"I'm sorry, I know it's late. I was wondering if I could come inside for a jip—" there was the sound of faint sirens, causing Lena to jump and turn around, looking up and down the street. She turned back and looked at Evan.

"I know this is weird, but… Please?"

Evan stood there, contemplating what was happening. A lot of people thought he was a smart guy, and he agreed for the most part. He could use his brain. For the sake of argument, he'd assume that what was happening was actually happening. If this girl was the same one from the video game… He could assume she most likely wasn't a danger to him and she was a good person. Evan would like to think that assumption is why he let her into his home. More than anything, he was curious.

"Come on in, the name's Evan." Evan smiled as his mind swam in confusion.

"Thank you, my name is Lena," Lena smiled up at Evan as she hurried past him into the hallway.

Evan shut the door behind her, holding his head in his hand. He figured he'd just eat cereal until he woke up.

* * *

Dade typed heavily on his keyboard in front of him, sweating profusely. He really needed a raise. And some coffee. He looked around his tiny, paper-filled, disorganized excuse of an office. And maybe a maid.

He heard the door open as it slammed against the wall.

"Dade! What's our status?"

Dade pushed his glasses up his slick nose as he spun around in his chair to face his commanding officer.

"Nothing ma'am. There was the small radioactive influx and there hasn't been any action since."

His CO looked pissed. He had never seen her so angry before.

Dade, intimidated by the silence, spoke up again. "We have people sweeping every part of that area and asking people if they saw anything. Nothing of substance yet."

She just kept standing there, with a vein bulging from her forehead.

"Dade."

"Y-Yes?"

"That was no small influx."

"I know." Dade twirled his fingers in his hands.

"Our readings indicate a surge equivalent to a nuclear bomb explosion happened in downtown New York City, Dade."

"Ma'am, I was the one who first saw the analysis report."

Silence.

Dade shifted uncomfortably.

"I want you to look everywhere you can. I want an answer in the form of an official report on my desk in an hour."

"Yes, ma'am."

His CO left the room, maybe to go to the control room where things actually mattered. No matter where she went, Dade knew she was going to yell at some other poor soul.

Well, so much for the raise. He could still use some coffee, though. He spun back around to his keyboard, typing in orders as fast as he could.

* * *

Evan stood across from Lena, who was sitting on a chair eating cereal on his kitchen island. He was picking at his, but was more thinking than eating. He was surprised he hadn't woken up from this weird ass dream yet.

Evan had noticed her stealing glances at him, probably wondering why he hadn't spoken. His bowl was nearly empty by the time she spoke up.

"Thanks for letting me stay here, love. This may be weird, but where are we?" she sounded tired.

He couldn't imagine what was going through her mind. "Yeah, no problem. We're in New York." he began. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. He had no idea what to say in this situation.

Lena stayed silent for a bit, apparently not expecting to hear that she was in New York. She eventually looked up at him from her cereal. "Do you know who I am?"

Evan pondered the question, moving his spoon through his cereal in circles. "I do, but I don't think in the way you'd expect." Evan took another bite of cereal. If this was all real, it'd be interesting trying to explain to her his point of view. He glanced over at the bits and pieces of sizzling chronal accelerator sitting on his counter, which had been what she was holding. He filed the question of how she wasn't time-leaping all over her timeline or whatever for another day. Perhaps it's not like how the game displays.

When it came to explaining to her where she was, maybe it'd be better to just show her. They sat there in silence, finishing up their cereal. Once Lena was done, Evan cleared his throat.

"Uh, Lena… There's something you should see. I don't really know how to explain it, so it'd be easier to show it."

Lena seemed confused, but nodded anyways. "Great. I'd like to get some clarity."

Evan went into the living room, listening to Lena's chair scoot on the tile floor of the kitchen. She was soon standing by him, looking around. He picked up his controller, handing it to her after powering up his Xbox. It had gone to sleep.

The screen lit up showing the Overwatch menu with a videogame version of Lena standing to the right, smiling at them.

"Whoa, it's me! Is this a contraband Overwatch ad?"

Evan looked at her, the thought of not telling her fleeting across his mind. But she needed to know. He'd have to be straightforward. "Not exactly. This is a videogame…"

Lena looked between him and the screen, confused. Evan decided to continue.

"I don't know how you're here, but you're in, well, another universe," Evan told her how to pull up the Hero Gallery and to go to her own page, "Here you are. I'm sure this is weird… Overwatch is just a game here."

"You mean… It's not real here?"

"... Yeah."

Lena was fixated on the small version of herself doing a twirl and laughing.

"I'll go take care of the dishes… Tell me if you need anything, or, you know…"

After not receiving a response, Evan left the living room and went back to the kitchen. He felt sorry for her, but he knew that she had to go through this if she really was… Real. Evan sighed, hoping he'd wake up soon. Deep down, he knew he wouldn't.

* * *

 _Ayy lemur. This is the only author comment I'll ever do. I hate them._

 _This chapter is mainly to test the waters for this story. In my opinion, it's a little lame. I don't expect the story to get_ _ **good**_ _until after Genesis. And Genesis won't be too long. It will still be decent as my writing improves, though._

 _Nonetheless, enjoy the story. Thus concluded the shortest author's note in the history of FanFiction._

 _Peace y'all._


	2. Genesis II

_They got everything perfectly right. Bloody hell._

Lena listened to her voice lines over and over, going down the list. This headache was killing her.

 _It's like I recorded these._

Lena blinked. "Did I record these?" she said out loud. It was the first time she had spoken in a solid half hour. Evan had been sitting on the couch, staring off into space as Lena stood fixated on the screen.

"I'm just as confused as you are, Lena."

Lena collapsed back on the couch. "Am I even real?" She had serious doubts now. Everything was turned upside down. Was she dreaming? She pressed against her forehead, trying to get rid of her headache.

Evan looked over at her. He took on a serious tone, "You're very real," he rested his hand on her shoulder, "don't doubt that. I'm sure this can be explained."

Lena looked at him as he smiled reassuringly at her. She smiled back, feeling a bit like herself for the first time since she got there. "Thanks, Evan." Lena flipped her hair out of her face, "But I need to get home—"

Suddenly, she remembered how she had got there. Every detail flashed back into her mind. The bank. It all made sense again. Her head hurt so badly.

"Lena? Are you alright?"

She closed her eyes as the memories played out in front of her.

"Len—"

She couldn't have done anything to save them.

"—a!"

Something hard hit her side. Did she fall? Did someone hit her?

"Talk to m—"

Was she dead?

"LENA!"

* * *

It's good to see you, Tracer."

Tracer greeted at Jack Morrison with a look of awe.

"You too, Mr. Morrison!" Tracer said with a whisper.

Tracer had trained under Soldier 76 for most of her time in Overwatch. He was her mentor. And she finally got to catch up with him. Albeit, she wished it was under better circumstances.

They both were laying inside of a rather large air duct, peering down at four soldiers below them. The soldiers were dressed in full black spec ops looking gear, holding very large rifles. Two of them were standing in front of the large vault door, while the other two worked on breaking it open. One typed loudly on a laptop while another messed with various cables coming out of the keypad box beside them.

One end of the room had the vault. Tracer estimated the entire room was roughly 5 meters in width; a glorified hallway. Stretching down in the other direction was the exit to the front of the bank. Between here and there were various tables with decorative plants and dishes set on top of them. By the class of this place, the vent was probably well hidden in the ceiling.

"It looks like they've already begun breaking in," Morrison said over their comms system, "The civilians have been cleared from the area, correct?" Morrison asked their operator.

"Copy that, Tracer and Soldier 76, civilians are moved away and you are clear for game time. Four hajis hacking into the main vault."

Lena giggled as she switched to private comms, "You know, Morrison, I never took you as a mercenary."

"Back off, Tracer."

Lena stifled a laugh and switched to live comms, "Let's get this party started!"

"You're up first, kid."

Nodding as Morrison slowly unscrewed the panel to the duct, Lena moved her body into position.

"Three,"

One of four screws came out.

"Two,"

A second screw dropped onto the floor of the room, causing some heads to turn amongst the spec ops team.

"One,"

A third dropped, now garnering the attention of all four armed men.

"GO!"

The last screw, along with the panel, dropped from the air duct towards the room's floor.

Lena was standing in front of the men before it hit the ground.

"Hello, boys!"

The men took aim and fired at where Tracer was standing, but it was too late. She had disappeared. All of their bullets went flying into the wall behind where she had once been, causing dust to fly up as they impacted with the smooth stone wall.

One of the men felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Over here, dummy!"

Lena fired one of her dual machine guns into his chest, sending him flying back. He didn't get up. His comrades watched in horror as yet again the girl disappeared right in front of their eyes.

They didn't even know where to aim.

Firing wildly into all directions, the men tried desperately to hit something.

Tracer ran along a wall, aiming her guns towards the three remaining men. One of them was lucky enough to dive out of the way behind a large oak table, but the other two stood there as she reappeared in front of them. Tracer took aim and fired two shots, one from each gun. The two men dropped dead as the plasma bullets melted through their masks and painted blood on the vault door.

The remaining man cowered behind the table, unsure of what to do. He wasn't really meant for this. He was just following orders. It was a stupid idea, to rob this bank. He peeked up from behind the table, taking aim. He still had training, he could do this.

He saw the girl standing there, with her guns down. His heart leaped as he aimed to take the shot.

"I got you, you little bitc—"

The man fell to the floor as his neck snapped. The last thing he saw was the man that had been behind him, with white hair and a terrifying mask.

"Ooh, that had to hurt," Tracer said as Morrison stepped over the body.

"He had it coming," Morrison inspected the door, "AO clear, the vault has not been broken into. Terrorists eliminated. Clearing the bank and moving out through the designated exit zone."

Lena listened over the comms, then nodded to Morrison. They moved out of the vault room and began scanning the new area of the bank.

Tracer looked around the bank's main hall. Giant stone arches reached into the sky, holding up a beautiful marble roof. The room had various tables and ornate carpets laid about, most likely for bankers and customers to go about their business on a normal day. The entire place had a very rich person vibe to it. The center of the room was lowered, with steps leading up in two directions. To the left were various modern-looking offices. To the right were closed off rooms that Tracer couldn't see. Tracer and Morrison passed various teller booths as they entered the room.

"Main room clear. Tracer, go check those offices over there. I got the other side."

"Copy that," Lena moved left across the room towards the offices. They had large glass windows that looked out onto the main floor of the bank. There was one that had all of the blinds closed.

Tracer quickly scanned the other offices, seeing all of them empty. She made her way towards the door for the one office she still had to clear. She kicked it in, aiming her guns in preparation.

She nearly screamed.

"Morrison…" Lena paused, "Get over here right now."

Lena heard Morrison run across the main floor towards her.

"Lena, what's—"

He stopped as he looked into the room.

It appeared to be a conference room, with a large table running down the middle of it, with a projector facing the far back wall. The wall was covered with sticky notes. Being projected on top of the sticky notes were the words "Reyes' Revenge" in large letters, with a cartoon animation of a van exploding over and over again. Every single sticky note on the wall had the same drawing of a van.

"He's back."

They heard explosions from outside of the bank. And screaming. A lot of screaming.

Tracer teleported across the room instantly and ran out of the front doors of the bank.

"Lena, wait!" Morrison screamed at her as she exited.

She wished she didn't go outside.

One of the biggest banks in London had been robbed, so, of course, there would be a police response, taping off the bank from the public. The citizens of the city would stand at the yellow tape line, trying to see inside. It's only natural, it's the way things are in a city.

And of course, there would be news trucks and vans pulling up all over the street, trying to get a shot inside or an interview with somebody important.

Tracer stood there in shock as she saw the crowd in a pandemic. People were running in every direction, those who weren't blown to bits. From the blast radius, it seemed as every single news truck on the block had exploded violently. Nearly everybody on the street got hit. Civilians, police officers, everyone.

The smell is what hit her first. That terrible smell of blood. It sank into her, surrounding her. She heard a child screaming in the distance. Everything seemed so far away.

Morrison ran out and stood beside her.

"Lena, we need to go. Now."

Lena stared at a man crawling on the ground. It looked like he was shouting for help. Why was he crawling on the ground? She saw that the man had no legs. Just two red stumps.

"Tracer, fucking snap out of it!"

A helicopter was circling above, with their lights aimed at them as they stood before the destruction.

People noticed them standing there, and began shouting and pointing.

"Look! It's those rogue Overwatch people!"

"They did this!"

"Men, open fire!"

Morrison grabbed Lena and began turning her around, but not before the surviving police officers sent a hail of bullets towards them.

Lena saw a wayward round cut into Morrison's shoulder. She stood there, frozen.

"LENA MOVE!"

It happened in slow motion. A bullet came directly at her. She could have gotten out of the way, but she stood there.

It went directly into the middle of her chronal accelerator.

At first, she couldn't hear anything. Morrison looked at her funny. He was saying something. Yelling something. What was it? She looked down at her hands. They were blue. Everything was blue. She heard something that sounded like an electric motor powering up, and she blacked out.

* * *

"Lena? Lena, are you awake?"

Wow, her head hurt. It felt like it was splitting down the middle. Everything was spinning.

"Lena, talk to me."

"I couldn't save them." Lena opened her eyes to see Evan leaning over her. She blinked a few times, seeing the worry written all over his face.

"Save who?"

She shut her eyes, holding back tears.

"It was a trap. Reyes, or Reaper, whatever. He killed innocent people. So many innocent people..."

Evan sat there in silence.

"It's how I got here, Evan. Somebody shot my chronal accelerator."

Lena felt something warm on top of her hand. She opened her eyes and saw that Evan had his hand rested on top of hers. "It'll be okay," Evan whispered, "We'll figure it all out."

From then on, Lena believed him. She believed it'd be okay. She smiled at him, before moving her free hand to her head. She had a large welt on her there. After reaching up and touching it, she winced in pain.

"Yeah, when you fell you went headfirst onto the floor," Evan said as she tried to touch it again. He reached back and grabbed something off of a side table. "Here's an ice pack," he handed it to her.

"Thanks," she held it to her head, feeling a million times better already. "You're too kind, love." Even though she felt like hell, she beamed up at him.

Her smile was so contagious, Evan couldn't help but smile back. "Are you comfortable here? I could get you some more blankets."

Lena moved around, finally realizing where she was. She was in a bed. A really comfortable one, at that. She looked at Evan, who was sitting on the edge of the bed. "More blankets would be great, love," she paused, looking around, "You aren't going to sleep in the bed too, are you?"

Evan blushed, thanking his past self for only turning on the bedside lamp so she couldn't see him well. "No, silly," he laughed, "I'll be sleeping on the couch."

Lena looked down at his hand, still resting on hers. "Ah, of course," she said quickly.

"I'll be right back with those blankets." Evan left the room after patting her hand, leaving her to her own thoughts.

* * *

Paid leaned against the main control panel, staring at the information on the big screen. Looking around the control room, he saw he was alone. Only accompanied by the flickering lights of various monitors and backlit keyboards in the room, he went through the information on the big screen.

 _Come on, you knew you'd be on your own._

There was a lot of work to do, and he knew that. There were hours and hours of work ahead of him. And most of it would be alone, but he was okay with that. He didn't mind. He never did.

Something caught his eye on the screen. Something called a 'review.' Someone from the outside world was actually listening in to his transmissions! He opened up the message, looking at the contents.

Reading it over, he nodded his head. This is perfect, a confirmation the system worked.

He sat down at one of the many keyboard stations and began typing a response.

 _Dear readers,_

 _Thank you to those who reviewed. I promise you many chapters ahead. I am currently working out the kinks in various story arcs, but there will be continuous updates. I also plan on hopefully increasing the length of each chapter. Right now, they are averaging about 2000 words. I am going to aim higher._

Paid paused, looking at the screen, then up to the original review.

 _I am not the best writer in the universe, but I vow to show improvement every single chapter._

 _Regards, Paid._

Satisfied, Paid cracked his knuckles and hit send.


	3. Genesis III

Evan opened his eyes, blinking into the brightness of the sun. He looked around, not seeing much after being blinded by the light coming through the window. He didn't immediately know where he was. Slowly but surely, the events of the previous night came back to him.

He sat up on his couch. Looking around his living room, his flat screen sat on display in the middle of the far wall, with a coffee table between the couch and the TV. Flanking each side of the flat screen were black bookshelves with various items on display. Everything from books to vinyl albums, anything over the years he thought was cool and kept around. His kitchen was directly behind him. And… That's weird. He could smell something being cooked.

He turned around on the couch, greeted by an interesting sight.

On his kitchen island, various pieces of Lena's chronal accelerator were laid out, looking either burnt or completely destroyed. He saw a hammer sitting next to them.

On the other side of the island, Lena stood _cooking eggs in his kitchen_. Where the hell did she get eggs from? As far as he knew, he had none. But that wasn't even the weirdest thing.

In all of her morning beauty, Lena stood holding a spatula with seriously messed up hair. And she was wearing some of his clothes. He could only see her shirt, which was an AC/DC shirt he'd had for the past decade. He seriously wondered if she had anything else on.

Evan had never really been in a situation like this and didn't know what to say to get her attention. He stared through half-lidded eyes, trying to wake up. He wasn't doing a very good job.

Hearing him shuffle about as he sat up on the couch, Lena turned around. "Hey, sleepyhead!"

"Uh, hey." Evan stood up and stretched, looking down at himself. He still had all of his clothes on. "I'm glad to see you found my closet."

Lena blushed, looking down at herself. "I hope you don't mind. I didn't want to wear that jumpsuit and bomber jacket forever," she turned back towards the eggs, "plus, I'd stand out even more wearing a jumpsuit while I went grocery shopping."

 _Oh, no._ Evan thought to himself. "And what money did you use?"

Lena gestured to Evan's wallet, sitting next to the chronal accelerator parts. "I only bought eggs and more milk, since we drank most of it last night."

Evan patted his back pant pocket, then looked at Lena. "Do I want to know how you got that out of my pants?"

Lena only giggled.

Evan sighed, then smiled. Even though she was highly inappropriate, he felt that he'd be able to get her back soon enough. The war had begun.

He walked around the couch and into the kitchen, looking at the various pieces of her chronal accelerator. It was literally destroyed. He picked up the hammer, gesturing towards her.

"What did you expect to fix with this?" he asked jokingly.

"I should ask why the only tool in your house is a hammer," she shot right back at him with a smile.

"Fair enough," he set the hammer back down.

"I forgot to ask," she flipped the eggs on the stove, "Exactly how much do you know about me?"

Evan thought about it. "Well, you're in Overwatch," Evan paused, feeling stupid, "...obviously,"

"Right."

"And you were involved in the Slipstream accident," Evan continued, "that caused a bit of a problem with your personal timeline…"

"Also right…"

"Winston had to construct a device," Evan motioned towards the broken pieces on the island, "to hold you in place in time."

"Also correct-o-mundo." Lena looked at him, "If that's the case, then why am I not randomly disappearing and reappearing?"

Evan had considered it already. "My personal theory is that a universe-level jump may have fixed whatever screwed with you in the first place."

Lena flipped the eggs one last time before moving it onto a plate. "I would agree that sounds likely, love. You sound a lot like Winston sometimes."

She set the plate on the island and grabbed a piece. "Dig in, I hope you like your eggs over-easy," she smiled at him as he took some for himself. They both leaned against the island, eating eggs and thinking.

"You'll want to return home, won't you?"

"Yes. There's work to be done there."

Evan looked over at a picture of him and Jake sitting on one of his bookshelves. In the photo, Evan held onto a skateboard with a big red bow on it. Jake gripped a green box like he was the happiest guy in the world. "I may have somebody who can help."

Lena followed his gaze to the photo. "Aww, you two are so cute. Who's the guy holding the box?"

"That's my friend Jake," Evan chuckled, reminiscing over the photo, "we got each other presents for senior graduation." Evan walked over and picked it up.

Jake, partly as a joke, had gotten him a skateboard. Evan had never skateboarded in his life. Throughout their entire senior year, Jake had been saying that he and Evan needed to become, "cool kids," as he said before they finished high school. When Jake handed him the board, he said that even if they didn't exactly hang out with all of the cool kids, Evan was the coolest kid that Jake knew.

Evan smiled. That skateboard was the perfect gift for him.

Evan had gotten him something he knew Jake wanted for a long time. Inside of the green box was a collar. Naturally, Jake was confused when he first saw it. Evan smirked, remembering the look on his face. When Evan brought a little brown labrador puppy around the corner, Jake nearly cried from happiness. He said over and over how it was the perfect gift and how thankful he was.

Evan sat the photo back down on the shelf, turning to Lena. "Jake is the one who can help us."

"And how's that?" Lena stood in the kitchen still, watching him. She had moved to the other side of the island, finally confirming that she was indeed wearing pants. His pants, of course. She had absolutely no shame. Evan looked back to the photo of his friend.

"Jake's kind of a genius."

* * *

"I'm a fucking genius!"

Dade leaned back in his chair after he put the finishing touches on his presentation. He had figured out what to do next. He picked up his phone on the side of his desk and punched in the numbers for his CO's office. He moved his arms around, trying to make his sweaty armpits feel more comfortable. He had been there all night, and… Hygiene sacrifices had been made.

"Hi, hello. Can I speak with the CO?"

Dade gripped his phone harder.

"I know she's very busy, I—"

Did this secretary not know who he was?

"I am very aware of the current situation, but I have an update I feel—"

Cut off again.

"Yes. I can hold…" Dade sighed, feeling defeated. He couldn't even get past a bitchy secretary. Dade sat there for a few seconds, listening to the terrible music playing from the phone.

Then, his door flew open, smashing into the wall with a bang. It hit the wall so hard, his coffee fell over on his desk, spilling to the floor. Things just kept getting better and better.

"DADE!"

Dade spun around slowly, preparing himself for the senseless yelling.

"Why in the hell didn't I get a report this morning?" his CO sniffed the air, wrinkling her nose, "and what in the HELL is that smell?"

Dade shifted nervously in his chair. He chose to ignore her comment. "Ma'am, I discovered some interesting information," this info was big. It was his one shot at the control room. "If you could accompany me to the control room, I could show you—"

"Dade,"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"I know what you're trying to do," his CO sighed, "you've been doing good work lately, and operating well under the pressure of this situation."

Dade's heart skipped a beat. Was he being promoted?

"Starting tomorrow, you can begin working in the control room."

"YES!" Dade paused, "I mean, thank you, ma'am. If I may, can I show you what I found?"

"Go ahead."

Dade threw his presentation up on the large flat screen above his desk. The first slide featured a satellite overhead of downtown New York City.

"So, normally our radiation detection system only picks up large spikes, right?"

"That's correct. We don't want it going off for small things or resting power plants." his CO said.

He displayed an image of the radiation spike from the previous night. It took up most of the screen, being gigantic.

"As you know, we picked this up immediately. As you can see, this is dated roughly 10:45 PM."

Dade tapped on to the next slide. It was the same overhead image of New York.

"Here is a satellite photo from around 11 PM," Dade tapped to the next slide, "And here is that same photo if we check for lower radiation levels."

Dade and his CO looked at the small trails of radiation going down a city block, then turning into what appeared to be an apartment complex.

"It appears whatever caused that radiation moved after the spike." Dade tapped once again, moving on to the very last slide. It showed a single radiation blip, focused in on one specific apartment.

"That radiation point hasn't moved since last night. That apartment there is registered to an Evan Williams."

"Brilliant fucking work, Dade." his CO beamed at him.

Dade was taken aback. He didn't know she had human emotions.

"I-I've already submitted a raid request for his place. That was faxed to your office."

His CO nodded before leaving the room. He heard his office door slam, but not as loudly as what he would have expected. Things were finally looking up for him.

* * *

Lena and Evan sat on the couch, watching the news. Well, Lena watched the news. Evan sat beside her, tapping on his phone angrily. He sighed in defeat. They had decided to wait until Jake was off of work to get in touch with him, so they had time to kill. Minus Lena, this is how a lot of his days went when he didn't have to go to work.

Evan, who was paying for his college classes with a full ride scholarship, only worked part-time to pay for what he needed. Food, internet, utilities and rent were his biggest expenses. Most days, he had a lot of time to burn. He would usually end up playing video games, flicking through the newspaper, or wandering about in 'the city that never sleeps,' taking in the sites. He was quite fond of watching tourists get lost, before finally pointing them in the right direction. Once the night came around, he'd hang out with Jake or one of his other friends who had just gotten off of work.

On those nights, they'd occasionally meet up somewhere to play video games or watch movies. They'd also go out on the town when everyone was up for it and wasn't broke as hell from school. Restaurants, art galleries, movie theaters, shows: whatever was happening nearby that they could afford to go to. It usually ended up being a blast, with everyone enjoying themselves.

Evan was thankful Jake didn't want to go out or anything last night. If they did end up going out, he probably never would have ended up with Lena showing up on his doorstep while he was home. He was very glad he was home. Evan wasn't having any problem warming up to her, or her antics. He wondered how she was feeling about all of this.

But right now, he just wanted his phone to work for once in his life.

"The damn app glitched again," he cursed his phone, restarting the app, "They seriously need to update this as soon as possible."

Lena looked over to him, curious.

"What'cha playin'?"

"Pokémon Go, ever heard of it?" Evan mentally smacked himself. Of course, she hasn't heard of it.

"Oh, GO? Yeah, a friend of mine played it constantly," she muttered something about 'Hana's live streaming' before turning her eyes back to the TV. Channel 8 was covering something about a giant pile up on the highway, and reviewing some sort of kitchen appliance nobody would ever use.

Maybe Evan and Lena's universes had more in common than he originally thought. "I don't know if the app ever glitched for you," Evan was yet again tapping rapidly on the screen, trying to save the Rattata he had caught, "but it freezes almost every time I catch something."

"It might be the area that you're at," Lena thought. Hana used to complain about not getting a strong reception wherever they happened to be on the battlefield, causing her live stream to malfunction.

"It'd be my luck for my apartment to be a Pokémon dead zone," Evan chuckled, then looked over at Lena, "You know, we could go get you some actual clothes and capture something!"

Lena laughed then stood up, stretching. "Only if you're willing to, I wouldn't want to force you to buy me clothes, love." She glanced back, winking at him.

"Not that I have a problem with you wearing my clothes…" Evan trailed off as he examined her attire, "but I'd hate to cramp your style."

She giggled as she rounded the couch. "Let's get going, then!"

Evan grabbed his keys off the coffee table and his wallet from where Lena had left it, then followed her out the door.

"Lucky for us, I'm parked on the street down there," Evan pointed in the direction they had to go down the street as he slipped on his leather jacket.

Evan lived on a quiet avenue where brick and stone buildings linked together, towering above the street below. The sidewalk was lined with the occasional tree, which was the only greenery in sight. At this time of year, they were beginning to turn various shades of orange. Evan enjoyed watching the leaves fall to the cold pavement. He and Lena made their way towards his car, parked a few yards away.

Lena had her bomber jacket on again, looking up into the overcast sky, shivering. "It sure is cold out today," she glanced at Evan, who seemed undisturbed by the weather, "is it always like this here?"

"This time of year, yes." Evan pressed the unlock button on his keys, causing the car to beep. He opened the passenger door for Lena as she climbed in, then circled around to the driver's side.

Pulling away from the curb, Evan looked at the time being displayed on his dashboard. "It's one o'clock right now, so we have a solid four hours before Jake is out of work."

He turned onto the larger main road, heading towards the nearest department store. "I'm thinking we get you some clothes," he glanced at her current outfit stolen from his closet, "so you don't look like a middle schooler having a coming-of-age crisis," she stuck her tongue out at him while he continued, "then get some food and head to the park for some Pokémon."

"Sounds like fun!" she punched his side and grabbed his phone out of his back pocket, causing him to swerve slightly on the road.

"Jeez, Lena!"

She giggled. "What? I thought I could play GO while you drive."

"Just don't cause me to crash," Evan sighed, but smiled to himself. She was like a kid sometimes.

After driving for a few minutes, they pulled into the parking lot of a department store. Getting parked, they both hopped out of the car. Evan considered getting some things for himself. Maybe he'd get a couple new shirts.

The department store was like any other, gigantic and blocky. It lacked any notable decoration outside its light, clay-colored walls, besides the gigantic blue sign that read "Buy-More." The last time he had been here, he and Jake had been looking for batteries for his Xbox controllers. Amazingly, he had none in his apartment, and Jake said it'd totally be worth it to come down to this department store and buy some. He convinced him by telling him about the gigantic 50 pack of double A's they sold. Of course, Evan had to see for himself. That seemed like so long ago. He glanced over at Lena, who seemed thrilled to be going shopping.

"We're gonna have _tons_ of fun shopping, love!" Lena said excitedly, doing small jumps up and down as they walked towards the store. "I can't wait!" As they walked through the front doors, the pair turned some heads. A greeter welcomed them to the store, while various patrons gave Lena confused glances.

"She looks just like her!" somebody whispered.

"Evan…" Lena looked around at the people, "It seems people know who I am,"

"She even sounds like her!" another person spoke in a hushed tone.

"You heard the accent?" the first person murmured back.

Lena blushed, moving towards Evan and looking down.

Evan laughed, "Overwatch is very popular here. If anyone is brave enough to approach us, you could say you're Tracer's voice actor."

Laughing with him, Lena looked back up. "Yeah, that'd be fun."

Satisfied he seemed to cheer her up, they kept walking with minimal whispering and gestures around them. The rudeness of some people in public places still amazed him.

They arrived in front of a giant sign that read "Women's Clothing" in big, pink letters. It seemed like a majority of the clothes in the department were pink, too. Pink jackets, shorts, socks and everything in between were hanging on various racks. They stopped just outside of the department.

"Does Umbridge shop here or something?" Evan was shocked by the sheer amount of pink clothing in front of him. It was a little ridiculous.

"Ha, a Harry Potter reference. A Brit like myself can appreciate that." Lena winked at him.

"A Brit like yourself is going to have a hard time finding something that isn't pink," Evan said jokingly. He was right, though. He honestly couldn't see anything that wasn't pink in the vicinity.

"Anyways," Evan finally tore his eyes away from the strange display of pink towards Lena, "Let's meet back here at Pinkville in thirty minutes, cool?" Even looked over his shoulder before continuing, "I want to get a new shirt or two."

Lena nodded, acknowledging his plan. Having something important to say, she spoke up. "Thanks again, Evan. Thank you for everything," Lena smiled up at him, moving to hold his hands. "I don't know where I'd be right now without you,"

Evan held on to her hands. He was a little surprised by her sudden thanks, "Of course, Lena. You're a good person who deserves to get back home," he smiled back at her, "I'll do everything I can to get you there."

Lena hugged him, trying her best to wrap her arms around him. She was so much smaller than he was, her head rested on his chest. "Thank you," she whispered.

"You'll be home soon, Lena." he whispered back. He didn't expect the embrace, but it was very comforting. He put his arms around her in return.

 _He's so warm._ Lena beamed, holding onto him tightly. They stood there for a few seconds, blushing in the middle of the department store. Lena eventually spoke up, "A-Alright, I'll meet you back here in a half hour, love."

She wished they could stay there longer.

"Sounds good. See you soon..." Evan reluctantly let Lena go, smiling at her. Turning around with a wave, he began his journey to find a decent shirt. Lena waved back as he walked away. She was left standing there, wondering if thirty minutes was enough time to find something that wasn't pink.

She looked back at the department Evan had properly dubbed as "Pinkville." Thirty minutes wasn't enough time at all.


	4. Genesis IV

In her universe, Lena was an original tomboy.

When she was a kid, her mom would always go off on her when Lena went to school in jeans and tee shirts, calling it "un-lady-like," and saying it caused "terrible gossip." Most of the time, Lena could care less. The truth was that Lena was more comfortable, literally, in boy's clothing.

During secondary school, she was often the only one dressed even remotely like a guy.

However, in this universe, or at least during this time period, nearly every single girl Lena saw was wearing "guy-styled" outfits. Flannels in various stages of unbuttoning and jeans (normal and skinny) were mainly what she saw. She'd fit right in.

Lena smiled. Despite nearly everything being pink, the clothing choices reflected the current style perfectly. In the end, she was happy with what she had picked out.

She just had a couple more things to grab...

Evan walked up and down the tee shirt aisle, looking for something, _anything,_ he liked. All of the clothes in this place were ridiculous. There wasn't a single band shirt in sight, only large V-necks and weird super thin hoodies with holes in them. He sighed, grabbing one of the V-necks. He wasn't sure why he wanted it, just that he would probably need it.

Making his way towards the front of the store, he spotted Lena. She was standing in front of a rack of postcards. He approached her, not saying anything. He watched her freckled nose scrunch up as if concentrating, as her eyes moved card to card.

He lightly tapped her on the shoulder. "What're you looking at?"

Lena glanced back at Evan, ensuring that it was him. "I came up with a good idea," she began as she chose a New York postcard from the rack, "I'm going to take this home with me."

"That is a pretty neat idea," Evan wondered about the consequences of bringing something back with her might be. That'd be a question he'd have to ask Jake once they saw him. Evan looked at his watch. Apparently, they had spent more time in the store than they originally planned. "Lena, we might have to skip Pokemon in the park."

"Aw, that's too bad. I'm still starving, though."

Evan's stomach grumbled in response, causing Lena to giggle.

"Looks like your tummy agrees, love." she winked at him.

Evan chose to ignore her comment. "Let's go get checked out, then get some food."

Lena, holding a collection of clothing and other assorted items, tagged along behind Evan as he made his way towards the cashiers.

"So, I got a few things besides clothes…" Lena began, "the postcard, as you know, and toiletries."

"Cool. You'll be needing 'toiletries,' unless you want to share a toothbrush, too."

They entered a line to check out, putting their things on the conveyor belt. Lena grabbed candy bars from above the belt, throwing them down on top of the clothes.

After a small argument between Evan and the cashier over the validity of his card and one of their bags nearly breaking open in the parking lot, Evan and Lena found themselves sitting in the car as the engine hummed into life. They listened to it run as a light rain began to hit the windshield.

"Well, that was fun," Lena stated as she fiddled with the radio.

"Oh, yeah, tons of fun. I have to go to the credit union tomorrow."

Lena laughed quietly at his frustration. Attempting to change the subject, she rubbed her stomach. "So, what's for dinner, Mr. Williams?"

Evan mentally listed all of the places near where they were as they drove out of the parking lot. "Well, there are quite a few fast food places and a few cool family-style restaurants. Maybe Jake could meet us for dinner. It'd be easier for him to digest all of this with food in his stomach, anyways."

Lena nodded. "I could go for one of those big steaks. It's been awhile since I've had anything like that."

"Sounds good," Evan reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone, dialing Jake's number.

"You calling Jake?"

"Yep." the phone rang a few times before Jake picked up. "Hey, Jake."

On the other end of the line, Jake was busy getting his wipers started to handle the rain, which had turned from a drizzle into a moderate downpour. "Hey, Evan! I was just about to call you, I'm off of work. What's up?"

Evan nervously tapped the steering wheel with his driving hand. "Well, I was wondering if you'd want to go to Chotchkie's for a bite..."

"That's that ripoff of T.G.I. Friday's on Fairmont, right?"

"Yeah. Their staff dress like weird leprechauns." Evan and Jake sniggered at the joke.

"Okay, cool. I'll be there in ten," Jake paused, "is everything cool, dude?"

Evan looked over at Lena, who was whistling and looking out the window. "Yeah. Everything's cool. See you soon."

"Peace, Evan."

Evan hung up his phone, setting it on the middle console. His stomach rumbled again.

"I'm excited to meet Jake." Lena yawned, leaning towards Evan with her head on her shoulder. "He seems like a nice guy."

"He's pretty cool, you two will hit it off."

"Oh, I'm sure we will." Lena winked at Evan, obviously trying to stir something out of him.

Evan chuckled and lightly flicked her forehead as she leaned closer to him. "Just don't propose to him in the restaurant."

Dissatisfied with Evan's lack of jealousy, Lena crossed her arms. "Maybe I will," she grumbled.

Even though Chotchskie's was located on the far end of Fairmont Plaza, it could be seen from all the way across the large parking lot. It's gigantic shamrock sign glowed, illuminating the cars below it as they lay parked on that downcast afternoon. Its windows were filled with warm, yellow light. A passersby could see happy customers, just getting off of work from their nine to fives, eating their food surrounded by memorabilia that covered the walls. Posters, pictures of past owners and famous visitors, and random shelves holding interesting things.

Evan and Jake had been there once before in their junior year. One of their friends decided to host their senior graduation party there, which to this day neither of them understood why. Chotchskie's was famous for it's authentic New York steaks, but Evan and Jake both agreed there were much better places to host an amazing graduation party. Like a skyscraper rooftop or a set of train cars reserved only for partygoers.

Evan and Lena climbed out of their car in front of the restaurant, looking through the window. Evan spotted Jake in the back, sitting alone at a booth. Apparently, he beat them there.

"Let's go inside," Evan held open the door for Lena as she moved past him, shivering from the cold rain outside. Evan soon followed, and they made their way to Jake.

Jake looked up as they approached. "Hey, Ev—" his eyes met Evan's, moved over Lena, then back went to Evan. "Who's this?"

Before Evan could say something, Lena spoke up. "Hi, I'm Lena. I've heard a lot about you," Lena spoke, holding out her hand to Jake.

Jake stood up, shaking her hand. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Jake," Jake glanced to Evan, "... as you know." he sat back down, motioning for Evan and Lena to take a seat. They did, sharing the seat across from Jake.

Jake stared at Lena's face. "I feel like I've seen you before, Lena."

Lena took in a breath. "Well—"

Out of nowhere, an exuberant waiter appeared in front of their booth. "Welcome to Chotchskie's!" the waiter nearly threw down three glasses of water in front of each of them, causing Lena to jump. "Can I get any of you something to drink? Or maybe something to nibble on? Our specials include Pizza Shooters, Shrimp Poppers, or Extreme Fajitas!"

Evan coughed. "I'll take some coffee."

"S-Same here," Lena spoke up, recovering from the shock of the sudden interruption.

"I'm fine with water," Jake had yet to take his confused gaze away from Lena.

"Alrighty! I'll be back in a jip!" the waiter left them to continue their conversation.

"Jake, this will sound weird, but—"

Jake cut him off, waving a hand through the air. "There's no need. I definitely approve of her. With you two dating—"

"We're not dating!" Lena and Evan yelled in unison, causing a few heads to turn in their direction. They looked at each other then down at their water, blushing.

Jake burst out laughing. "Oh, yeah, totally." He looked at Lena, "then how come you're wearing his clothes?"

Lena looked up at him with a hint of anger in her voice, "I'll have you know—"

"Heya guys! Back again with that coffee!" the waiter skipped up to their table, setting the coffee down in front of Evan and Lena. "Are you all ready to order?"

Evan forced a smile in the waiter's direction. "No, we'll need a few more minutes. Thanks."

"No problemo!"

As the waiter left, Lena fumed in the direction of Jake. So far, he seemed like a brat.

Just as she was about to start off on him, she felt a hand on hers under the table, then a small squeeze. She looked over at Evan, who looked into her eyes. She could tell he wanted to handle this.

Understanding, Lena nodded.

"Oh, you two are so cute." They both looked at Jake, who was holding his head up with his hands, looking lost in a dream. "I wish I had a camera so you guys could see yourselves."

Evan felt Lena hold his hand tighter, most likely willing herself to not lunge across the table. "The fact is, Jake, you have seen Lena before."

Jake looked at Evan, a confused look returning to his face. Then, it hit him like a train.

"You're Tracer!" Jake exclaimed. "Holy shit, I hate your character." he laughed, not fully realizing what was going on. "So, Evan, how did you meet Tracer's voice actor, and how did you get her to fall head over heels?" Jake sipped on his water while looking at Evan, preparing for an epic tale.

"Well, she's not exactly a voice actor…" Evan looked at Lena, "She's actually Tracer."

"But, uh, you can call me Lena," Lena interjected, wanting to feel like a part of the conversation.

Jake stopped mid-sip, glancing to Lena. "Are you implying…"

Evan nodded slowly as Jake's eyes grew wide, the straw dropping from his mouth. "She's from an alternate dimension."

Evan and Jake often talked about Jake's work, which involved interdimensional theories. He had been working on his thesis, which involved a hypothesis for how one could possibly travel to other dimensions using negative matter, or something along those lines. Since Jake was a kid, he always wanted to explore the unknown. He learned about space and instantly fell in love. The idea of space being repeated over and over in infinite configurations, commonly known as the multiverse theory, was his absolute favorite subject. So much, in fact, he was preparing to dedicate his life to its study.

"Naturally, I wanted to come to you for help, Jake." Evan took on a serious tone as he and Jake looked at each other.

Like a switch, Jake's demeanor had changed. "Of course. You want to get back, I assume." he directed his stare at Lena, who nodded in response. "Tell me everything, from the beginning."

And so, Lena and Evan told him the events of the past 24 hours. The NSA (which Lena wasn't aware of, causing her a bit of nervousness), Lena showing up, her collapsing and her remembering everything. To both of them, it seemed like it had been a lot longer than 24 hours. It seemed like a dream. But as they sat there across from Jake, who listened with intensity and interest, they realized it wasn't a dream. It was real. After telling the story, Lena and Evan were hit with a wave of tiredness.

They finished their tale and sat in silence.

"Heyo, guys! Ready to order?" the waiter popped up with his usual gigantic grin as he refilled their drinks.

Lena mumbled something about steak, then closed her eyes and rested her head on Evan's shoulder.

"She'll have a porterhouse," Evan patted the top of Lena's head, who sighed. "I'll have your half pound burger."

The waiter nodded. "Anything special on that burger for you?" Evan shook his head. "And you, sir?"

Jake, who had been staring at a toy cat on the shelf above the booth, looked at the waiter. "I'm sorry, what?"

"What would you like to eat?" the waiter grinned, not losing an ounce of enthusiasm.

"I'll take the... " Jake hurriedly opened the menu, pointing to the first thing he saw. "The, uh, Extreme Fajitas basket."

"Alrighty!" the waiter took their menus, clicking his pen. "I'll be back with your food in a jip!" he turned, heading for the kitchen.

"Lena?" Evan looked at the girl laying on his shoulder. "You alright?"

"Yes, love. Just tired." she opened her eyes. "I hope you don't mind your position as a pillow."

Evan chuckled. "Not at all." Evan looked up at Jake, who had returned to his staring match with the cat. "Jake."

"Hmm?"

"I promised Lena that I do whatever I could to help her get home."

"I wouldn't expect any less from you." he looked away from the cat, his eyes meeting Evan's. "I will do whatever I can to assist." he paused. "Once we're done here, I want a look at that chronal accelerator."

"Sure thing, it's still at my apartment."

Jake nodded.

"There's not much left, though."

"That's alright."

Their food soon arrived, in which they all ate quickly. Despite the strange conversation that preceded the meal, they were all fairly hungry. Lena thoroughly enjoyed the steak. Evan and Jake watched as she practically inhaled it, eating neatly but quickly. Soon, her plate was empty.

She glanced over at Evan, who was watching her with a look of curiosity and confusion on his face. She looked at his half-eaten burger.

"Are you planning on finishing that, love?"

Honestly, Evan was pretty full. "No, not at all. It's all yours." he passed the plate to her with a look on his face similar to that of an animal tamer giving a lion a piece of meat.

"Thanks!" she beamed at him, setting his plate on top of her now empty plate as she started on the burger.

Evan looked over at Jake, who looked just as confused as he was. They watched Lena eat the burger almost instantly. Evan saw Jake mouth something to him.

"Where the hell is it all going?"

They both looked at the skinny Lena as she finished the last of the burger.

"I love American food…" she looked up, seeing her newfound friends staring at her with looks of complete amazement. "What?" she asked.

"N-Nothing, Lena." Evan smiled.

Shrugging, she blew a piece of her hair out of her face and went back to laying on Evan's shoulder. "I'm soooo tired. I am going to sleep for a solid twelve hours once we get home…" her eyes closed.

Soon, the waiter returned and they paid the tab. Glad to be free of the waiter's terribly infectious enthusiasm, they decided they would all return to Evan's apartment for the night while Jake began working on examining the chronal accelerator. Evan, after waking a sleeping Lena up and getting to the car, listened to the car's engine hum to life as Lena struggled with remembering how to use a seatbelt.

"You're pretty tired, aren't you?" he glanced over at Lena as he pulled out towards the road.

Finally clicking her seat belt into place, Lena sighed. "Yeah, it just overcame me," Lena mumbled into the window.

"Yeah, I know the feeling." Evan looked in his side mirror at Jake pulled in front of him. What a jackass.

After a few miles of following Jake, he let him get ahead. He felt like taking it easy. The past day had been a major information overload, and he needed some time to himself to process it all. Slowing down, he pondered all that had happened so far.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by his phone buzzing somewhere in his car. He looked ahead on the road, noticing a lot of police lights a few blocks down the road. It almost looked like they were on his block.

"Shit, it must have fallen beside Lena's seat." Evan looked over at Lena, who was snoring lightly next to him. He pulled over on the side of the road, taking one last look at the police lights before reaching for his phone. He read Jake's caller ID on the front.

"Jake? What's going on up there?"

Evan heard heavy breathing on the end of the line. "Code Charizard, man. Meet me at Wester's."

Evan's heart nearly stopped. Jake hung up on the other end of the line as Evan dropped his phone to the floor of the car. "Shit!" He reversed and spun around hard, causing Lena to jolt slightly. She woke up as her head hit the window.

"Ow! What the hell? Evan, what's—" Lena, blinking away the blurriness in her eyes, saw the flashing lights behind them as they drove away.

"Something bad happened, Lena."

Back in Jake and Evan's younger days. Evan and Jake had been arrested for possession of marijuana. They were young and extremely stupid. They spent a night in jail but got out with nothing but a warning, in the end, much to their own amazement. After a period of not being allowed to talk, they got together and devised a code system between themselves to warn each other in case of danger, or in situations like keeping the other from getting arrested.

Since they were both gigantic nerds, they based their system off of the Pokemon starters. The water type starter meant one of them was in physical danger. The grass meant that they were going to be in some deep shit, but not life threatening. Arrests, getting caught cheating on a final, or something similar. The fire type was reserved for the rarest situations when the outcome could be so bad that it could lead to harm or death of multiple people.

Depending on the severity of the situation, they would use a certain stage in the evolution of a Pokemon. They had both agreed that a serious fire type situation would probably never happen.

And Jake had just pulled a Charizard on him. Needless to say, Evan was scared shitless.

"Evan, what happened?" Lena, fully awake now, looked at Evan with a scared look on her face. She hated not knowing what was happening.

"According to Jake, we can't go back to the apartment for some reason. Probably having to do with those police." Evan paused, focusing on his driving. "We're meeting him somewhere safe."

"Where?"

"Wester's mill. Which is strange."

"Why is it strange?"

"Wester's is about 10 miles out of the city, it's an abandoned logging mill."

Jake paced back and forth in the large, empty room. All he heard was his feet hitting the concrete floor, and the sound of distant rats scuttling amongst the empty boxes and cutting equipment in the warehouse. Evan and him used to come there all the time. A long time ago. He continued pacing. He knew they wouldn't be long, but he was still worried.

He heard a door creak open, and soon after he heard a set of footsteps belonging to Evan run into the room. Jake sat down on top of a crate. He heard another pair of footsteps follow, running to keep up with Evan.

"Jake! What the hell happened?"

He looked up, seeing Evan's confused and scared expression. It was a Charizard, after all.

"Dude, at your apartment…" he closed his eyes, remembering what he saw. He still didn't believe it himself.

"What was it?"

Jake paused, looking at Lena and Evan. "Let's just say we won't be getting a look at those chronal accelerator parts anytime soon."

"What do you mean?" Lena jumped in, worried about her old accelerator and Evan's apartment.

"There were SWAT there…" Jake watched as Lena and Evan slowly began to realize the weight of the situation. "And NYPD, and NSA…"

Jake shifted on top of the crate, scratching the back of his head. "I think I might have seen some Homeland Security there as well. The block was a fucking Christmas tree of police lights."

Evan sat down on the floor, unable to stand. "Jesus christ," he thought back to those NSA agents at his door.

Jake spoke up, looking in the direction of Lena. "They are looking for you, Tracer." he spit her codename like it tasted bad on his tongue.

Lena started tearing up. "Look, I didn't know this would happen!"

Jake hopped off of the crate, slowly advancing on her. "Oh, yeah? Look what you've done. Now the government is after him!" he pointed at Evan, still on the floor.

Lena stepped back. "I would never hurt Evan!" she defended herself against Jake.

"Well, you're doing a pretty good job at sticking to _that_ motto!"

"You don't know anything!" Lena spoke quietly, glaring at Jake. "You don't understand anything! You don't know me, you ignorant prick!"

"I'm smarter than you'll ever be! Ask your fucking boyfriend!"

"ENOUGH!"

Jake and Lena turned, looking to Evan who was now standing with his fists balled. Lena sniffled, still crying. Jake looked surprised.

"I've heard enough of both of you…"

Jake stood silent for a second, before speaking up. "Evan, I—"

"Not a fucking word, Jake." Evan stepped towards Lena. "She didn't mean for this to happen. How could she have known, man?" he put his arm around her, trying to make her stop crying. It didn't work.

"She ruined your life, don't you see?"

After the words left Jake's mouth, Lena ran away from Evan towards the door. Jake and Evan stood there, listening to it slam. They heard her sobbing loudly on the other side.

Evan advanced on Jake. "Listen, Jake. You're my best friend. I want you to understand something," he looked towards the door, his heart dropping as he listened to Lena crying. "I promised her I'd get her home. And I am going to do that."

"She means a lot to you." Jake stood there. "I should apologize—"

"Not now." Evan cut him off. "She won't want to see you."

"Well, let me apologize to you…" Jake stopped, taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have blown up like that. I'm just worried, man. You know you can't go back."

Evan looked away from Jake, towards the door Lena had gone through. "I know."

Excusing himself from Jake, Evan made his way towards the metal door that led to the outside of the mill. He held his breath, opening the door slowly. In front of him, a stone path led back to the small road that had brought them here. There were small lights, illuminating the path and the grass to each side. Lena was sitting on a large log near the door, sobbing quietly.

Lena looked back, seeing it was him. "Go away, Evan." she wiped her eyes, "I don't want to mess your life up even more."

Evan sighed, sitting down next to her on the log. "Lena, you didn't mess up my life."

She listened to the crickets as they chirped somewhere nearby. Not far away was the edge of a forest. She wished she could be a cricket, living a simple life. "Go inside and ask Jake, he'd say different." she sniffed, wiping her nose. "Go ask the police. They'd say the same thing."

Evan put his arm around her. "I promised I'd get you home, and that I'd do whatever I could do to get you there." he smiled. "That's still true." he looked at her as she cried. She refused to look in his direction. He lightly grabbed her chin, pulling her towards him. "Lena…" he looked into her eyes. They were filled with tears. "The truth is, I care a lot about you…"

Before he could do anything, Lena leaned in and pressed her lips against his, locking them in a passionate kiss. She tasted like cherries to Evan. He returned the kiss with full force, leaning into her slightly. The kiss went on for awhile, with them just holding their lips together. They eventually pulled apart, leaving their foreheads pressed against each other.

Lena giggled. "You're a good kisser." she savored the feeling of his lips on hers, trying to not forget it. She smiled, blinking away the last of her tears from her eyes.

Evan sat back, keeping his arm wrapped around her. "So are you," he had no words besides that. He tried to decipher what had just happened, and what it meant. "I…" he looked at her. She was staring out towards the treeline but turned her head towards him. She was so beautiful. Even though she had been crying, her hair and pale skin shined in the dim light. He stared into her deep brown eyes as they returned his gaze. "Everything will turn out fine, Lena." he turned his gaze towards the forest. She responded by grabbing his hand, holding it tightly.

"It will be if you're here."

They sat there, listening to the sound of the crickets chirping.


	5. Genesis V

Evan had tried counting sheep. He tried thinking about something else, anything else. He spent the entire night trying to quiet his mind down to no avail. He kept his eyes shut, trying to force himself to go to was just too much to think about. What were they going to do next? Where would they go? Is he a fugitive now?

Despite all of this, the biggest thing that caused him to spend the night awake was Lena. He definitely knew after the events of the previous day that there was something between them. He saw images of her darting in and out of his mind, some memories and some fantasies. Evan thought back to when he first discovered her cooking eggs in his kitchen. He imagined them curled up on a couch together, laughing at some ridiculous sitcom on the television. He saw them sitting at a table in a restaurant, Lena teasing him for his choice in food. He saw them kissing passionately in bed, the entire world fading from their reach. He knew none of it could happen, though. There was one big problem; a problem preventing them from being together, from all of those things happening. This reason is the very one that kept him up all night. No matter what, they couldn't avoid the fact that—

"Evan, you awake, man?"

Evan opened his eyes, seeing Jake standing at the foot of the crate which had become his makeshift bed. Sun shined in through the high windows, filling the room. He hadn't slept at all. He closed his eyes again, trying to push past the fatigue as he sat up. "Yeah, I'm awake."

"Lena is already up, it's pretty early. If you want to keep sleeping you can—"

"I wasn't sleeping anyways." Evan stretched and got up, walking over to a broken mirror leaning against another crate. He was greeted by the sight of a rather sad-looking version of himself; small bags under his eyes, ruffled hair, and a generally grim demeanor. He had quite a bit of scruff on his face. He mentally noted that soon, he would need to shave.

"Well, Lena and I are in the kitchen, we have stuff to talk about."

"I'll be there in a sec," Evan didn't take his eyes off of his reflection as he listened to the sound of Jake's footfalls as he left for the kitchen, which had once been an employee break room for the people that worked in the mill. He wasn't looking forward to talking with Lena.

"You can't put it off forever," Evan heard a voice from behind him.

He turned around, seeing an identical version of himself sitting on the edge of his crate bed, looking at him with a scornful look. His doppelganger was tossing a Rubix cube up in the air and catching it carelessly. Unimpressed, Evan turned back towards the mirror. "Funny you should show up."

The other him, who seemed a lot more together than the actual Evan, laughed. "Don't forget, I'm you. This is just your temporary way of sorting out your problems." he paused, raising an eyebrow at the real Evan. "So, what's your problem?"

"It's Lena." Evan faced towards the imaginary version of him, letting out a sigh. "Don't get me wrong, I like her a lot—"

The fake Evan waved his hand. "Yeah, yeah. I get it. She's amazing, super cute, funny, whatever. What's burning at you? I don't see any problem. In fact, you guys would be a great couple." fake Evan continued throwing the Rubix cube up and down, more interested in the toy than in what Evan was saying.

Evan nodded his head, running his hands through his hair. "But, the problem still remains—"

The fake Evan, much to real Evan's annoyance, cut him off again. "She's not from the neighborhood. I also get it," he paused, pondering something, "you know, this isn't very fun, I already know because I'm you. I'm just your way of trying to force a new perspective into your problems." fake Evan watched as the real Evan turned back around to face the mirror, catching the Rubix cube for one last time before holding on to it.

"Well, do you know how to fix it? Is there some magical answer?"

"Magical answer to what, love?"

Evan spun around, finding that his duplicate was gone. Lena stood in the doorway giving him a confused look. "Oh, hey Lena. Just…" Evan glanced at the empty spot on his bed, "... talking to myself."

"Right. You ready for breakfast? Jake made toast, it's all we got."

"Sure, let's go." Evan walked with Lena out of the small room and across the main warehouse floor. "How are you and Jake doing, after last night?"

"Well, he apologized. I understood where he was coming from," she kicked a crushed can on the floor, sending it skidding a few feet forwards, "he cares a lot for you…"

"He always has, he means the best." Evan smiled, "so everything is good between you?"

"Yes, we're all squared,"

Evan nodded. He was grateful his friends had sorted out their problems. Nonetheless, the group still had quite a few larger problems ahead of them tackle.

"Hey, Evan…" Lena looked at Evan, who caught her gaze, "I don't think _you and I_ are exactly squared, after last night." Lena smirked, seeing Evan's surprised expression.

"Well, I, uh…" Evan, at a loss for words, was not expecting to have to deal with this so immediately. "Listen, Lena, I would love to talk about last night, but I think we have more matters to attend to," Evan motioned towards the door to the kitchen, which they were quickly approaching.

Lena sighed. "You're right, but we still need to talk."

"Of course," Evan, happy his quick response managed to buy him more time, opened the door for Lena. They were both greeted with the sight of Jake sitting at a small green table, a cup of coffee and a piece of toast in each hand.

"There's f-fum more th-rre," Jake spoke through mouthfuls of toast, gesturing at the small plate topped with pieces of half-burnt bread. Jake watched as they both picked up a piece, sitting down at the table with him. "You guys ready to hear something interesting?" finally swallowing his toast, Jake watched Lena and Evan with anticipation.

Beginning to eat their toast, the pair nodded.

"So, here's the deal," Jake began, leaning closer into the table, "There have been rumors going around between the professors in my classes. Rumors of a secret program that is developing some type of dimensional manipulation device, you see." he saw that he had their full attention, and continued, "The research going into this device is being privately funded by a company called Greystone, and rumor is the testing is going on somewhere on the Harvard University campus." Jake took a sip of his coffee.

Evan put his hand on his chin, thinking. "That research is probably our best bet at getting Lena home," a plan began to form in Evan's mind.

Jake sensed that Evan was thinking, and jumped back into the conversation. "Yes, it very well may be. But how are we supposed to get there? The feds are most likely looking for you," he jabbed his thumb at Evan.

Evan pondered the many trips he had taken up and down the east coast. His father had been a businessman, and would occasionally take him along on his trips so they could do some sightseeing together. They had traveled in many different ways. The distance between Cambridge, where Harvard was located, and New York City was relatively short, but airlines still flew between the cities. Due to his possible status as a fugitive, showing up at an airport might be asking to get arrested… Or worse. They could drive, but it would take a couple of days. And, in his personal opinion, a road trip with Lena and Jake may end in disaster. That left trains and public transportation such as taxis and buses. Trains would be the quickest, while still remaining the safest.

"We'll take the trains," Evan said, looking between his two friends, "If the feds are looking for me, the worst place to go would be an airport. Driving there is a possibility, but we can get there as soon as possible via train."

Jake and Lena nodded in agreement, appreciative that they now had somewhat of a plan. Lena, who had remained quiet listening to the plan, spoke up. "I have a better idea."

Interested, Evan turned to her. "What is it?"

"You guys have done enough for me, I think I should go by myself."

Evan scoffed. "That's ridiculous, we're coming with you to Cambridge, and helping you get back home." Evan hadn't gone through all he had simply to give up now. "The government is after me and my home has raided. I've dragged my best friend into this mess, and I'm determined to get him out." Evan looked at Jake, who nodded in agreement as he munched on a new piece of toast. "Not to mention, I don't break promises. I am going to help you get to your own universe, even if you don't think it's safe for me to do so."

Lena sighed, putting her hand on her forehead. "You have done so much already, both of you. I couldn't ask for you to continue." she watched Evan shake his head.

"I believe I speak for both of us," Evan glanced at Jake, who nodded his approval, "when I say we're going to help you in whatever way we can."

"But—"

"No buts. We're all going to Cambridge together."

* * *

Honestly, Dade had grown tired of people constantly making fun of his name. Even now, at his new post in the control room, people snickered as they passed his station and saw his name as it sat emblazoned on his desk. Over the years, he had heard many snide comments being tossed about, but the control room was the worst.

"I'm surprised he's not covered in chocolate." he heard someone snigger from somewhere behind him. He sighed. Ever since that Frank guy became popular, he had been ridiculed on a whole new level. He found himself almost wishing for his old office back, with the various stacks of papers and the occasional visit of his CO being his only company.

Nonetheless, he tapped away at his computer. He had to find out what Evan Williams was up to. Despite the fact that he wasn't home during the raid and had failed to return, Dade was sure he could find him. He heard a laugh in the distance, causing him to subconsciously rub his bald head and tug on his shirt, making sure he was indeed wearing clothing and not crawling on the ground being filmed for a YouTube video.

Nope. No friggin way he would ever succumb to that. Friggin nope. He coughed. Repeatedly.

He took a second to look up from his computer, admiring the large control room around him. He marveled at the marble columns in the room, slightly painted a dark blue, which accented the black ceiling. Most of the light in the room was provided by the glowing screens of the computers and the large screens in the front of the room. That and the backlit keyboards, of course. Dade loved the backlit keyboards. Various teams worked with each other, talking over tables and laptop screens. Most of the people here were working on the same thing he was, albeit different aspects of the case.

He looked back at his computer. He had work to do regarding Evan Williams. Focusing on the task at hand, Dade began to dig through Evan Williams' financial records. Per his training in tracking down people, he knew that the most reliable source would be some sort of money trail. To his luck, he quickly found his credit and debit card transactions. He noticed one of two things; first, Evan had tried to buy a bunch of clothes and a few other assorted items: a toothbrush, toothpaste, and… Dade held back a laugh… Tampons. Dade had a few ideas for what was going on. The transaction was dated for right around when the raid happened, and his card had been rejected. This, of course, was due to the NSA freezing his assets when he became a prime suspect in which Dade now lovingly referred to as the "spooky radiation incident."

Following a hunch, Dade spent a few minutes hacking into the security feed for the department store that Evan had supposedly been shopping at. Soon, Dade was staring at the various check out lanes, looking for a clip from around the time of the transaction. He pulled up Evan's social security, comparing the various faces in the lanes to Evan's own. After a few lanes, he spotted Evan in lane three, where he could see him talking with a brown-haired girl who was standing next to him. Dade, who did not know who this was, quickly ran her through facial recognition.

Much to his surprise, he didn't find a match. That most likely meant she was from another country, staying in America illegally. He cropped both of their faces, printing out standard wanted posters for both of them to present to his CO, along with various screenshots of the security feed, Evan's social security profile, and a few of the important steps he took in acquiring the images. To him, showing how he did his work was almost as important as doing the actual work.

In the end, his hunch had proven correct. This young woman Evan was with was most likely somehow responsible for the radiation that had occurred. Evan had a clean record and was not on the NSA's red flag list as a possible terrorist, while this woman was a complete ghost. That screamed something was out of the ordinary. " _Even terrorists need tampons."_ He thought as he chuckled to himself.

Satisfied he had gathered enough information to warrant a visit to his CO's office, he mustered the courage as he stood up from his chair. Ignoring the passing glances from people trying to catch a look at the infamous Dade replica, he made his way to the office door, knocking nervously.

* * *

They all had decided to make their way to the train station, with Lena and Evan going in Evan's car while Jake went on his own. They'd go separately, while Lena and Evan hung back in the car while Jake would buy all of their tickets.

Evan clambered into his car, finding Lena digging through his glovebox with a look of curiosity. Catching his confused look, she turned towards him with a smile.

"Oh, I was just seeing if it was true that every American has a gun in their glove compartment." she chuckled at her own joke, returning to rummaging through the glove box.

After getting onto the road Evan laughed, leaning over and closing the glove box on her. "Don't forget the car rules, Lena."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. No messy food, unless the proper amount of napkins are present," she listed off the top of her head, "Don't put your feet on the dash, and…"

"And?" Evan asked. He didn't think she'd forget them but was prepared to go into the full car rule lecture yet again.

Lena leaned towards Evan, "And don't distract the driver," she whispered as she kissed his cheek.

Evan blushed, keeping his eyes on the road, Lena giggling beside him. "Very funny, Lena. I'd tackle you if I weren't driving," he joked.

"Oh, I wouldn't mind it," Lena smirked. She looked over, expecting Evan to laugh at her jest. When he didn't, she realized that a sad expression was slowly forming on Evan's face; a look of defeat.

Evan sat there, remembering the previous night and what he had been thinking about. He sighed. "Lena, you're a nice girl…" he began, taking a glance at Lena. "But I don't think we should do this."

Lena tilted her head looking at him, confusion written on her face. "Why not?"

"I…" Evan pushed his palm against his forehead, "I just don't think we could work…"

Lena repeated herself. "Why not, love?"

Evan flinched at the name she had addressed him with. She seemed to use it with people she cared for, and right now he was rather uncomfortable being on that list. "It's fairly obvious."

"Are you not attracted to me?" Lena asked, narrowing her gaze.

Realizing his mistake, Evan backtracked. "No, no! You're amazing, Lena…" he trailed off, looking at her. "You're very attractive. But—"

"I don't see the problem!" Lena said with hints of annoyance and exasperation in her voice.

"You're forgetting, Lena. Soon, you may be back home." Evan said. He didn't look at her, keeping his eyes glued to the road. He didn't hear her respond.

"You're…" she whimpered, "You may be right…"

"Lena, I'm sorry—"

"No, it's how it has to be." she crossed her arms, staring out of the side window watching the road as it whizzed by. She couldn't even describe how she felt. Defeated. Confused. She felt like the universe, no matter which one she was in, would always work against her.

Jake and Evan stood above the tracks, looking back and forth on the black-tiled platform for signs of Lena. "Where did you say she went, Evan?"

"She said she had to use the bathroom," he said. But that had nearly been fifteen minutes ago. Their train would be arriving any moment, and she might miss it.

"Oh, there she is!"

Evan spun, seeing Lena making her way towards them. She was no longer wearing his clothes, instead dressed in gray skinny jeans and a black tank top with her pilot's jacket pulled around her. She held a grocery bag with his old clothes and her belongings. She reached them, avoiding their gazes as she moved to stand with Jake between her and Evan.

"Are you okay, Lena?" Evan asked. She chose to ignore the question, staring down at the tracks.

"Sorry for taking so long…" she trailed off. "I was getting into my own clothes, I figured it inappropriate to wear yours."

"It's alright, you didn't miss anything," Evan said with a smile that went unnoticed. She avoided his gaze, completely hiding her face from him. He swore he would still trying to be friendly with her.

A few minutes later, they were boarding the train. They walked to one of the many tables in their train car, impressed by the interior of the train. While the outside had been cold metal, the inside shone with a warm light provided by the overhead lights. The tables were flanked by booth-like seats, made of red upholstery that faced the thick oak-wood table. The walls were made of a combination of wood and metal, combining together to create a blend between modern and original decor styles.

Lena immediately sat down and scooted towards the outside of the aisle, while Jake sat opposite of her. Evan, deciding to play it safe and not push his luck with her, sat opposite of her next to Jake. "Man, I sure am tired," he said, feeling his eyes flutter. He wasn't going to fight getting some sleep.

"Well, we have a solid five-hour train ride ahead of us..." Jake whistled as his eyes followed a rather attractive female's train conductor's figure down the aisle. "She's got it all right, wouldn't you say, Lena?" Jake sniggered at his joke, looking up at Lena. She was busy pretending not to stare at Evan as he almost immediately fell asleep.

"Yeah, Jake…" she said absently, not hearing what he said.

"Don't mind him, he didn't sleep at all last night," Jake said, joining Lena's gaze directed at the snoozing Evan, "he's wrestling with a lot right now, I don't blame him for not being able to sleep…" Jake looked up at Lena, for the first time noticing that her eyes were puffy. She had been crying.

"Yeah, poor bloke," Lena said, showing a small amount of sarcasm in her voice.

"Lena, are you alright?" Jake was genuinely concerned, inspected her. "It looks like you've been crying."

"Oh, I'm fine…" she lied.

"You know Lena, we may have gotten off on a bad foot, but I do think you're a good person and I want you to know you can talk to me if you need to."

She sighed. It couldn't hurt to get Evan's best friend's opinion on what he had said. "Last night, after he came out to comfort me…" she looked at Evan's lips, which were sitting motionless as he slept, "well, we kissed. More specifically, I kissed him."

Jake snapped his fingers. "I knew you two had a thing!" he exclaimed, causing Lena to smile.

"Yes, we did."

"You _did_? Like, past tense?"

"Well, he sort of brought up the fact that I may be back in my own universe soon," she sighed, "I knew it too, but I wanted to avoid it. I really like him."

Jake shrugged, "That's a hard problem to face…"

"Yes, it is. There's no sense in flogging a dead horse, I suppose."

"Sorry, what?"

Lena chuckled, "Oh, that's like saying you can't solve something unsolvable."

Jake laughed with her. "You Brits and your sayings," he glanced to Evan, then back to Lena. "You know, there might be a solution to your problem."

Lena perked up, "What do you mean?"

Jake bit his lip, wondering if it was his place to say what he was about to say. Going against his better judgment, he sighed. "The fact is, Evan doesn't have a lot here. In this universe, I mean." he trailed off, looking at his friend, "His parents died when he was young. He went to an orphanage most of his childhood."

"That's terrible." Lena was taken aback, looking at Evan in a new light.

"There's more, but I feel he should tell you himself."

Lena nodded in understanding. "You're implying, he might want to—" Lena was cut off as Evan murmured in his sleep. She thought he was about to wake up, but he simply rolled over in his spot.

After assuring himself Evan was still asleep, Jake nodded. "Yes, I think he might."

They both looked upon the sleeping Evan, who now had his lips curled up into a small smirk,

"Looks like he's dreaming about something nice," Jake said, keeping his eyes on Evan.

"He does," Lena added. She hoped that he was thinking about her.

* * *

Paid flicked a sunflower seed off of his desk, sending it flying across the room. Nearly halfway up a blue-painted marble pillar not far from Paid's desk, a small piece of masking tape sat affixed to the side with a red X crudely drawn on it. As the sunflower seed made contact with the red X, a small _thump_ was heard, causing Paid to jump up in victory.

"Yes! Fucking score!" he exclaimed, making his way over to the tape to assure his victory. As he expected, a small dent could be seen directly in the middle of the X.

Paid sighed, looking up at the big screen at the other end of the control room. The data he was trying to decode flooded the screen, flickering past at insane speeds. Despite the speed, Paid spotted something abnormal amongst the swirling numbers, symbols and letters.

"More incoming transmissions?"

Paid made his way back to his desk, sitting down and typing away on his laptop. Sure enough, he found that he had received multiple transmissions, coming from somewhere unknown.

He read each thoroughly. Getting excited, Paid began to type out a response.

 _Dear readers,_

 _It's great to hear from all of you and to know that you all are enjoying the story. I'm happy to say that I am enjoying the story, too. There is much more to happen for Evan, Lena, and Jake. Of course, it's more than just them. It's you and I, too. We are just as much a part of this story as them…_

Paid stopped typing, looking at what he had produced. He didn't see any words on the screen, only numbers and strange symbols. Nevertheless, he proofread the transmission before continuing.

 _This chapter was written fairly quickly in an attempt to provide you all with an update. I hope you find it to be entertaining._

 _If you're new, feel free to drop a review. If you have reviewed in the past, continue your reviews, they help me find inspiration to keep going. Not that I wouldn't keep going anyways, but it's nice to see that real people are reading and enjoying. Feel free to correct any plot holes, grammar issues, etc. that you come across. I'd also like to say that those who don't leave a review, I can still tell when you view the story. I thank those who remain completely anonymous just as much as those who decide to write a review._

 _The entire reason I decided to do this story was to make people think. To make them feel emotion, to be connected to a story. To feel like they were part of something bigger. And to all of you, I say this: you are. You are a part of something bigger than anything you could ever imagine. You are important._

 _I'd also like to thank you for sticking with me through my growth as a writer. We are barely over fifteen thousand words in, but I already feel as though my writing has improved tenfold. Transmissions are becoming easier to translate, and easier to transcribe. I'd like to explain what is happening with me, where I am, but..._

 _Well, I'll start by saying I have always been a lover of psychology and neurological studies. A mind, especially the human mind, is a miracle. It's so complex; we understand very little about it. It's strange when you think about it. We all have one, we are all one. You are simply a brain, controlling a body interacting with a physical world. Yet we still know very little when it comes to our minds. Through various experiences and research, I have discovered that our minds and what we conceive as the 'universe' are connected. I could explain, but I feel I don't have enough time or the words to describe the deep, complex interactions that happen all around us all the time._

 _Let me leave you with this simple message: Question everything._

Paid sat back, watching as the symbols and numbers he produced were processed by the system. He felt that what he had delivered wasn't exactly clear; no matter. Nothing ever was when it came to his work. Soon, they would know. Soon, they would fully understand.


	6. Genesis VI

"Oh my god! Is it true Winston's from the _moon_?" Evan scrolled through the Overwatch wiki page, amazed by the detailed information they had on various characters. He looked out the window at the mid-evening sun as it peeked over the skyline of Boston. They were nearly at their final stop. He had woken up when they switched trains nearly two hours ago, deciding to stay up and read up on the Overwatch universe. While he was asleep, Lena seemed to have accepted their previous talk, and she was back to her cheery self. He even dared to sit next to her through their last train ride.

Giggling, Lena took a bite of the yogurt she had in front of her. "Yes love, it's true. He was part of a colony there," she said, reminiscing about the stories Winston had told her about the moon base. She glanced over at Jake, who had decided the last train ride was the perfect opportunity for a power nap. He snoozed lightly across from Lena and Evan, his sweatshirt hood pulled up over his frizzled red hair. He had been writing in a notebook, which was sitting closed in front of him.

Evan continued reading Winston's information on Jake's smartphone. He had gotten rid of his soon after they left the old mill. He had seen enough spy movies and read enough about privacy breaches in the news to know that the government would definitely attempt to track him through his own phone.

"I think Jake and Winston would get along well," Evan said thoughtfully, "they both seem to be geniuses."

"Wha-sthat?" Jake yawned, stretching. Apparently Evan had woken him, "are we there yet?"

Evan shook his head, "We will be soon. In the meantime, you should read up on this Winston guy, Jake. I'm impressed by what he's done."

"Winston? Isn't that like, the monkey?"

"Yeah, the monkey."

Between bitefuls of yogurt, Lena interjected, "He's technically a gorilla."

Evan smirked at her comment, "Yeah, a really smart gorilla. He's the one who made the chronal accelerator."

Lena held her yogurt defensively as Jake reached across the table for his phone. Grabbing it out of Evan's hands, he started reading the article that Evan had pulled up on Winston. Evan puffed in irritation, deciding to look back out of the window at the setting sun.

Satisfied her yogurt was safe, Lena followed Evan's gaze out the window. "It's quite beautiful," she said.

"It is," Evan glanced back at Lena, "I always loved being in the city. Everything from the people to the amazing architecture that's everywhere you look…" he trailed off, returning to the window.

"You'd get a kick out of the cities where I come from…" Lena thought back to the towering silver skyscrapers and the rolling meadows surrounding the major cities. Her world was similar to this one, but it could never be replaced.

"Did you guys know Winston is from the fucking _moon_?"

Evan laughed, being taken away from the window. "I know, right?"

They all chuckled to themselves as Jake painted a picture of the giant gorilla prancing around on the moon in an Apollo astronaut suit. The overhead speaker blared to life, interrupting their conversation.

"We will be arriving at Back Bay Station in five minutes. Please take all of your luggage with you when you depart the train. Thank you for riding with Grayline."

Evan looked around at their booth they had taken up residence in. They didn't bring much with them; Evan had a travel backpack, Jake had a small carry-on he kept in the trunk of his car for emergencies, and Lena had the grocery bag which had remained in his own car since they were at the department store. In the case of Evan and Lena, it seemed the few things they had with them was all they had to their name.

After spending a few minutes cleaning up and waiting near the train door, they stepped onto the station platform, quickly being enveloped by people entering and exiting the train. Lena stuck right by Evan with Jake trailing behind, looking at the people struggling in the station terminals. The group made their way across the smooth white tiles and through the metal detectors, eventually walking out of the large front doors. Evan led them down a path near the exit that seemed to go down towards the waterfront, taking in the outdoors for the first time in hours. Everything was basked in an orange hue from the setting sun.

"You've been to Boston before, right Evan?" Jake looked over at his friend.

"Yeah, my dad did a lot of work up here for the university."

They continued down the stone path, eventually reaching a waterfront. A few walkers and runners passed them while they leaned up against the railing, looking out onto the Boston Harbor. Beautiful bridges lit up with lights towered over the bay, while a myriad of boats and ships travelled about on the smooth water below. The setting sun shined down on the scene, filling the harbor with glorious orange light as it reflected off of every surface it touched. Evan could have stayed there forever, watching the sun's rays play with the slow rolling waves.

"Talk about a beautiful view," Jake said, nearly at a loss for words.

"Yeah, it's gorgeous." Lena whispered, reaching down and taking Evan's hand. Much to her pleasure, he was too busy taking in the scenery to do anything about the movement she had made.

"This is a new city, guys. It's a new chance." Evan smiled at his friends, who smiled back.

After spending a few minutes leaning against the railing, they started down the flagstone waterfront walkway. Evan and Lena continued holding hands while Jake walked alongside them, dragging his carry-on behind with one hand.

"What's next, then?" Lena asked, looking towards Evan.

"We find a place to stay, I guess." Evan pulled up a map on Jake's smartphone, which he had skillfully pickpocketed while Jake ogled the Boston Harbor with the rest of them. They didn't know how long they were going to be in Boston, but purchasing a room for them to share at a motel would be the best option available. After looking over a map of the city, Evan spotted a decently priced motel not far from them. It was a small ride to the Harvard campus, and a short walk from where they currently were.

In order to get to the motel, they walked across the bay via a pedestrian bridge. Lena glanced down nervously at the water, not paying attention to the conversation Evan and Jake were having. Occasionally, a vibration would shoot through the concrete beneath her feet, causing her heart to skip a beat and her hand to tighten around Evan's.

"You alright, Lena?" Evan looked at her quizzically.

"Just a tad scared of bridges," she said, trying her best not to look down. She felt Evan's thumb running over her hand, trying to comfort her. She smiled up at him.

"Oh, _shit._ " Jake spoke up, holding his phone in in front of him.

"How did you—" Evan was patting his back pocket, trying to figure out how Jake stole his phone back.

"Oh, while you and lover girl were staring into each other's eyes I took it back." before either Lena or Evan could contest, he put his phone in front of their faces. On the screen he had the front page of NY Daily, New York's local newspaper, pulled up. Above the main article, Lena and Evan's face were plastered to wanted posters, detailing their personal features and Evan's car. The article below detailed how there were two terrorists believed to be operating in the Manhattan area.

"Well, good thing we're in Boston." Evan joked as he looked at their wanted posters.

Lena took the phone from Jake, zooming in on their faces. "How in the hell did they get our faces? And why?"

"It could be because of your accelerator," Jake pulled his notebook out of his carry-on, which from what Lena could see was filled with writing and occasional drawings. "Something like that is bound to have some sort of signature that defense systems might pick up on." he glanced at his notes, "It also could have been a type of explosion when you travelled here, you know?"

"There wasn't an explosion, or else I wouldn't be here," Lena said.

"Yes, it probably wouldn't be a _literal_ explosion," Jake continued, "It could have been what one could call an extradimensional explosion. One you can't see, but is still there. It's effects are felt in a way we don't interact with. I hypothesized once I heard your story that in order to transport you across universes, it would have taken a gigantic amount of energy. Picture it this way: that energy came from an extradimensional force, one you can't see with the naked eye. Since the energy is extradimensional, the energy output would also be extradimensional, thus invisible to us. You and your universe leaping are more of a byproduct of that energy transfer." he concluded.

"I think I get it," Lena scratched the back of her head, processing what Jake had said.

"There are rumored to be other byproducts of 'extradimensional energy transference,' which is what Jake is talking about," Evan cut in, "often things we can't explain. Spontaneous combustion, paranormal phenomena, and more."

Lena stared at Evan, "What, are you a genius, too?"

"Not really, I just listen to him all day," Evan gestured at Jake, who snickered.

"He's a different kind of genius," Jake said, punching Evan in the shoulder. Lena looked between the two of them, missing the obvious inside joke.

"What does that mean?"

"Oh, nothing. Look, there's the motel!" by the time Evan had seen the motel, they had crossed the bridge. The small, dingy-looking building sat a few blocks back from the waterfront with a large, blue neon sign that read "Sleep-Well" near the road. The motel was in desperate need of a paint job; the blue and white stripes were peeling all over the exterior of the building. It was the best they could do.

"So, what are we going to do about your guys' wanted status?" Jake asked, directed towards Evan.

"We'll just keep a low profile, I guess." Evan shrugged, "I'm still not really sure what to think about that. I guess that explains why my card didn't work at that department store, though." Evan led the way across the parking lot of the motel, looking for the main office so they could check in.

* * *

His lab was quiet. If one stayed completely silent, all they would hear is the low humming of electronic equipment running for experiments and lab tasks. He found himself with the lights off and eyes closed, listening to that very humming. When everything was completely operational, the room held a certain tune when all of the sounds combined into one. If something went offline or updated, the pitch or makeup of the tune would change. He could always pick out what had caused the change, and would get up from his large tire seat to fix what had broken.

That is what he was doing at the moment, sitting and listening. Some might even call it meditating. He heard the tune change as the fan stopped spinning. That was normal. Then, he heard a low bass-like hum suddenly switch off. Nearly sliding and falling on his ass over a peanut butter lid, he scrambled off of his seat towards whatever had switched off.

In the far corner of the room sat a small screen built into the wall, containing information being fed directly from Tracer's chronal accelerator. It provided updates on where the accelerator was located in spacetime, and would alert him if the accelerator made any sudden jumps, hinting that Tracer's condition might be returning despite the device. He had set it up recently, the last time Tracer had been at the lab. They both thought it'd be good to collect information from the device and keep Winston in the loop on the device's operating status.

Winston squinted at the small screen in the dim light, pushing his glasses up his nose. He watched the data feed, not believing what he was seeing. It appeared Lena's chronal accelerator _no longer existed._ Kind of. The signal for the accelerator couldn't be required anywhere on Earth. Despite this, coordinates were still coming in.

"What happened?" he asked himself quizzically.

Winston made his way back to his main computer, sitting down on his tire and turning towards the monitor. "Athena, pull up the accelerator monitoring software for Lena Oxton."

"Sure thing, Winston."

Various windows popped up, along with a picture of Tracer. First, Winston attempted to triangulate the accelerator's signal manually using the coordinates. Nothing. As he looked closer to the coordinates, he noticed something strange. There was usually a slight delay in the accelerator's updates, but this delay was different. It was huge. According to the readings on the screen, he was receiving updates from over _400 billion years in the past._ The entire spacetime coordinate set was different.

Winston leaned back in his chair. Either he chronal accelerator had time travelled back to before the universe existed, or something bad extremely threw off the system. Or perhaps a combination of both. Winston tapped quickly on his keyboard.

He set the coordinates to new parameters, expanding the search to the solar system. It's possible she could be somewhere in space, or perhaps on a colony…

Winston grumbled as the accelerator software couldn't locate her.

"What a mess…"

Winston put the coordinates through everything he could in a feeble attempt to find Lena, or whatever was left of the accelerator. He found literally nothing. Anywhere. Anytime. Nevertheless, the coordinates still continued to flow into the system, being dated back billions of years. That was probably the strangest thing; the time. Assuming the hardware and software wasn't malfunctioning, how come he was receiving such _old_ yet _new_ information? If the coordinates were from 400 billion years ago, then how come he was just receiving them?

Suddenly, a thought popped into his head.

"400 billion years…"

Winston pulled up a map of what they had charted of the universe. The farthest they had managed to chart is roughly 91 billion light-years across. Assuming that the universe was roughly that large, that meant it would take that many years to transmit information via light across it. Earth was located in the relative center of the universe, from what Winston could tell. If the signal was 400 billion years old, it could be that it was sent from outside of their universe. The universe is strange, though. The observable universe is what someone could see from one point in space. Light can only travel so far so fast.

Memories of his human compatriots teaching him about the bubble theory flashed through his head. He had spent a lot of time learning on the lunar base, and he had taken a large interest into subjects regarding the universe. He found it fascinating. Could it be that Lena had somehow travelled to another universe, or at the very least beyond their own?

Winston shook his head. Theoretically, it was possible. But it wouldn't be done like that. Again, light can only travel as fast as light can travel. Winston's lessons on quantum theory came back to him, information swimming through his head. He grabbed a jar of peanut butter, taking scoops while lost in thought. There was a lot of work to do. He had to hypothesize what could have happened, test all possible scenarios, figure out which is correct, find out how to get her back, and then execute a plan.

Perhaps it was his care for her, or simply his fascination with what was happening, but he vowed he would put his full attention into finding Lena and getting her back. He scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully, getting to work as he finished up the peanut butter and threw it to the side.

* * *

Evan trotted up the large stone stairs towards the science department's doors, tugging nervously on the V neck he had switched into. Lena had said it made him more attractive and more like a college student. He sighed. He already _was_ a college student, but whatever.

He adjusted his backpack one last time before entering the doors, thinking back to their plan they had made last night at the motel. He had only one name in his head: Dr. David Hergen. The guy was supposedly running the dimensional project Jake had heard about in Harvard's labs. Personally, Evan was confused as to why this guy would run a research lab at Harvard, even though he was funded through the company Graystone.

He entered a large lobby with towering white pillars and a mostly glass ceiling. The place had a very modern feel to it, which Evan liked. He approached a blonde-haired woman, probably a student of the university, sitting at the main desk. She was looking down at some paperwork, so he cleared his throat to get her attention. She looked up, shooting him a smile.

"Hello, welcome to the science department. Can I help you?" she asked. Evan noticed her desk was fairly clean. She had a cup of tea sitting next to an orange card, most likely a building keycard.

"Uh, yes. I'm looking for Dr. Hergen's lab, I'm supposed to start there today."

She raised her eyebrow at him, causing Evan's heart to skip a beat. Was she suspicious?

"Sure, let me look where his lab is," she momentarily tapped away at her keyboard, biting her lower lip and occasionally glancing up at Evan. "Are you new to the campus?"

"Er, yeah. I transferred."

"Again, welcome," she paused as a small slip of paper slowly printed from her copier, "Maybe I could show you around sometime, here is Hergen's room number…" she paused, writing something on the paper before handing it to him, "and my number's on the back. The name's Kailey, by the way. Like I said, any time you need a tour..." she shot him another smile.

Evan blushed, taking the slip quickly and mumbling something that could have been taken as a 'thanks' before quickly walking down the hallway to the left. He glanced down at the slip, swearing. He needed to go down a different hallway. Evan again jogged past the main desk, avoiding eye contact as he made his way down the correct hall. Maybe V necks actually suited him well.

He shuddered as the thought passed through his head.

After walking for awhile, he saw the door that led to Hergen's lab. Most of the doors were locked with a device you needed a keycard to swipe with, Hergen's included. Nonetheless, this wouldn't be a challenge; they had prepared for every possible scenario, keycard lock included. He took a seat in the hallway as a security guard walked past. Evan could see an orange security keycard, matching the one the blonde woman had, in the guard's breast pocket. A plan started forming in his head.

Evan flipped open a disposable phone he had purchased, dialing Jake's number. After one ring, someone picked up.

"Hello, love! How's it going?"

"Good," Evan glanced at the security guard as he turned down the hall, "They have keycard locks. The security guards seem to have them, as well as the front desk."

"You got a plan, then?"

Evan explained his plan to Lena, who acknowledged what to do and hung up. Evan stood, stretching as he did so. He nonchalantly made his way back to the main lobby, standing at the edge of the hallway he was currently in.

A few moments later, Lena walked in holding a large cup of coffee, skipping and whistling. As she entered the door, Evan started towards the front desk, pacing himself so they would both get there at the same time.

They both reached the desk in the same instant, causing the blonde woman, apparently named Kailey, to look up. She smiled at Evan, then looked over at Lena. "Can I help you two?"

"Oh, you can go first, love." Lena said, looking at Evan.

"Oh, no, I insist you go first, ma'am." Evan held back laughing, smiling at her, "I'm just here to talk with Kailey," he winked in the blonde's direction, who blushed. A small voice in the back of his head bragged to himself about his apparent sway with woman, but he quickly stomped it out.

Lena looked between Evan and the woman as he flirted with her. She gritted her teeth, forcing the venom to leave her voice, "Well, alright then. I—" Lena turned towards Kailey, being cut short as she faked a trip and spilt her gigantic coffee all over Kailey.

The original plan was for Lena to simply drop it on her computer. Evan figured that she must have missed somehow.

Shrieking, Kailey jumped up from her chair. "Oh my god, it burns!" she jumped up and down in place, grabbing napkins from under her desk trying to clean herself off.

Lena did her best to look appalled as she ran around the desk, grabbing more napkins. Evan could see a glint in her eyes as though she was laughing at Kailey. Amongst the confusion of Lena apologizing over and over to Kailey while she helped dry her off, Evan quickly grabbed the keycard off of her desk.

"I think I'll come back later," he said. He went unheard as he slipped off towards Hergen's room.

He soon found himself standing in front of the door, sliding the keycard through the lock. A light switched from red to green as he heard the lock click. He pushed the door open, looking around the lab.

Overall, Evan was unimpressed. It seemed somebody had packed up most of the lab equipment. There were a few boxes of papers, and small glass containers with what appeared to be a substance similar to sand inside. He looked through the boxes, finding various documents and reports on what they had worked on in the lab. The first report he found was rather old; Hergen described the existence of a substance that had the ability to disrupt spacetime. Sand-like in appearance, Hergen understood very little about it.

Evan continued searching for the boxes, hoping to find something newer. He found a smaller box, labelled 'October 2016,' which was the current month. It had few documents in it, but one report caught his eye. It was relatively recent, and was hand-written by Hergen:

October 17th, 2016

The increase in funding from Graystone was exactly what the lab needed to complete the project! Without my presentation on unilite, the substance which the machine operates on, we surely would have gone under. Nevertheless— that is the past now!

I am excited to say that we are moving our base of operations to a more secure location. The research we have is too valuable to take place in a school such as this one. We need proper security. If this fell into the wrong hands… Who knows how bad it could get.

Anyways! About the machine… Serious progress has been made. For now, the portal is being stored in my bank box at Boston Private. It seems unilite has more properties that can be controlled when it comes to manipulation of spacetime. The applications we have produced in lab trials are marvelous: teleportation, anti-aging, limited time travel, and more! There is much more to discover, of course.

Despite all of this, the main goal of the project has not been fulfilled. Originally, Graystone funded this research in the hopes we would be able to reproduce resources in massive numbers. Their impression was that unilite had the ability to "copy" matter and "paste" new matter into existence. This is, as far as we know, not possible.

However, I propose an alternate solution. We believe that unilite may provide access to other universes, mirror universes if you will. Based on how unilite works with matter in our own universe, we believe it'd be possible for unilite to create a portal that could be used to transport matter from our universe to a mirror universe, and vice versa. If you are interested in the details, please visit the correct document. This is merely a summarization of our research in layman's terms.

Simply put, in order to open this portal, we would need matter from the other universe to come in contact with the unilite in our own universe. It could come in any form; we even hypothesize antimatter may work as well. Any single "piece" of matter has a unique signature which correlates directly with the universe that it's from. This, of course, proves to be the challenge. Somehow, we must collect matter from our sister universe in order to open the portal. Thus ensues a perfect catch twenty-two situation: We cannot retrieve what we need without the thing in which we need.

There may still be hope. In various lab tests we have been able—

Evan looked up from the report, hearing noise outside of the door to the lab. He quickly emptied the October 2016 box into his backpack, zipping it up quickly. He spotted a small, empty vial sitting on top of an open box filled with lab equipment. He removed the stopper, scooping up a small amount of what he believed to be this 'unilite,' placing it in his bag. No doubt Jake would want to see it.

He slung his bag over his shoulder, creeping towards the door slowly. He listened for voices, hearing none. Peeking out of the small window, the hallway seemed to be clear. By some stroke of luck, he made it out of the building without seeing another soul. He passed the front desk, which was empty. Apparently, Kailey decided to go to the bathroom to handle her coffee problem. Evan slipped the keycard back next to her undisturbed tea, jogging out of the front doors into the mid-morning sun.


End file.
